Well, blah.
The crowd was really into to it - even 40 minutes before the game.
The Mavs new mascot made it's debut - it's Mavs Man, the human basketball
(gag). Think of an orange Spiderman with a costume face. The guy does
have some hops as he opened with a non-trampoline assisted power slam.
His two trampoline assistant jams were not that impressive. [Call me a
purist.] The Maverick's Dancers' routine actually did look much better
than last years (and coming from me, who hates cheerleaders, that is a high
compliment). I was also glad to see that they were _not_ courtside during
the game.
The game itself stunk. The Mavs played pathetically. The Mavs started
the game lousy, but the Kings weren't too much better. About half way
through the 1st, the Mavs started to play and rallied back from about 8
down. It was 25-24 Sacramento after 1. Then came the 2nd quarter. The
shortest guy on the court ate the Mavs alive. Tyus Edney successfully ran
the pick-and-roll more times than I could count. He would take it in for
the layup, get fouled, or dish off to Brian Grant or Michael Smith for the
easy bucket. Edney had 12 points in the 2nd. The Mavs did not begin to
click again until midway through the 4th quarter - and it was much too
late by then. The Kings led 56-37 at the half and 84-59 after 3.
Sacramento built their lead up to 98-68 a fourth of the way into the 4th.
The Mavs went on a 18-3 to cut that lead down to 101-86 with about 2
minutes left.
Gatling strained a tendon in his left thumb during the 2nd quarter, but
returned in the 2nd half.
Quotes:
Garry St. Jean: "We bounced back nicely from our loss in Houston Friday
night. We did what we wanted to do on offense."
Jim Cleamons: "It looked like we were too anxious to please which
sometimes happens on opening night. It was a good learning lesson for
us. We couldn't stop their little high screen roll. They saw a scab and
picked away at it."
Cleamons: "I thought we were a little out of sync tonight. Our guys
played hard tonight but we did not play with the rhythm and tempo that we
have the last four or five games. I think they they were too anxious,
which will happen to you sometimes on opening night."
Jason Kidd: "This definitely didn't turn out the way we planned it. But
this is only our second game. We won't even remember this game 72 games
into the season, unless a tiebreaker comes into play."
Tyus Edney: "It felt good to give the team a lift like that. It was nice
helping the team."
Edney: "I just wanted to come in and make things happen. I started off
last year coming off the bench. I want to do whatever helps the team."
Corliss Williamson: "Tyus really went out there and did some great
things offensively and defensively. He was a big boost for us tonight.
Any time you come home from a road trip with a split, it's something
good."
Sac-Dal boxscore